Cot-bed



NiTn STATES PATENT Genre.

HERMON W. LADD, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

COT-BED.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,028, dated May 3, 1881.

Application filed July 28, 1879.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMON W. LADD, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cot-Beds; and I hereby declare that the same are fully described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to furnish an improved bedframe ot' great strength devoid of cross-supports interfering with the desired elasticity ofthe supporting-surface, and adapted to fold snugly, and to employ therewith a flexible or elastic fabric suspended from said frame under proper tension.

My invention consists in a bed-frame made of a single continuous strip or two united strips of wood or other suitable material bent into a form substantially as shown in the drawings, with straight parallel sides and curved corners or ends, from which is suspended under tension a flexible or elastic supporting-fabric.

It also consists in such a frame constructed without cross-braces, so as to give full play to the elasticity of the supporting-surface, in combination with an elastic metallic fabric suspended from the arched ends only ot' the bedframe.

It also consists in the devices and combinations ofdevices setforth in the appended claims.

The drawings represent, in Figures l, 2, and 3, my improved cot in end view, perspective, and plan.

A is the fabric of the bed-bottom, secured by its ends to the upper edges of theframe B, which frame is bent into the desired shape, with straight parallel sides, rounded corners, and arched ends, as shown, so as to obtain the greatest possible stiffness and strength, and to enable the frame, without cross-bars, to withstand the powerful tension of the woven-wire bedbottom, which it is my purpose to use in connection with this improved frame. I much prefer to construct the frames ot' wood and of a single continuous piece, steam-bent into the form shown, and joined at a single point by a stiiiening-plate, C, to which the abutting ends 0f the frame B are secured. It is evident, however, that two rails may be employed', each formin g one-half the frame and suitably united to the other; also, that iron or other material may be used, if preferred. Wood is, however,

the most desirable, owing to its greater lightness and cheapness, as well as that it may be more readily worked than any other material of suitable character. I am accustomed to use ash strips about an inch in thickness and two inches wide for cots for one person, while for double beds the stock would be somewhat heavier.

rEhe woven-wire fabric A is stretched from end to end of the frame under great tension, and is secured to the arched ends of the frame B by iattening the fabric at those points and nailing or stapling it to the outer ends of the frame, with its horizontal part resting upon the upper edges of the frame B. The ends of the fabric of wiresare covered and in part secured by finishing-strips I), placed over them and fastened to the frame ends so as to clamp the wires tightly.

The shape of the frame is admirably adapted to withstand the strains of use and those put upon it by the eXtreme tension of the wovenwire fabric. The round corners and arched ends give great stiffness to the structure, avoiding the weaknesses of the ordinary rectangular frame, and requiring no cross-bars or tie-rods from side to side, which, if used, would interfere with the downward yielding of the elastic fabric A, suspended by its ends only, and thus requiring more space for the full exercise of its elastic qualities than if supported from its sides.

I am accustomed to furnish beds or cots of this construction with folding leg-frames, for convenience of transportation and storage. Such frames, as shown in the drawings, have the legs E pivoted at F to the frame B, and connected in pairs by cross-rounds G G and tierods H, the latter running through the legs, with burrs or nuts H on the outside of each leg, tending to prevent spreading of the side rails, B, under the strains to which the frame is subject.

J J represent braces connecting the rounds G of the leg-frames to eyes secured in the lower edges of the side rails, B. These braces are held in position by shoulders turned on the rounds G, and pressure of each brace against the correspondinglegE tends to keep the hook at the upper end of the brace sprung into its place.

I also provide at one or both ends a folding head or foot piece, as shown, consisting of two curved rods, K K, pivoted near each other in the side rails, B, and connected at the middle by a wire fabric, L, similar to that composing the bed-bottom A, and held in position between the rods K K by light standards M, which keep the rods a proper distance apart, but allow them to turn slightly in folding. The open and folded positions are well shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The peculiarities of configuration or appearance which characterize my invention are set forth in an applicatlon for a design patent led simultaneously herewith.

I am aware of the patents to Hall, June 10, 1862, and Skinner, September 9,1862, showing a cot-bed having a netted supporting-fabric secu'red both to the sides and ends ofthe frame.

I am also aware that woven-wire bedbotto1ns suspended from the end pieces only of rectangular frames have long been used, the patent to Hendley,Septe1nber 18, 187 7 bein gan example.

I am further aware that the patent to McKeever, July 15, 1879, shows a Slat-bottomed cot with bent-wood frame having rounded ends.

I do not therefore claim broadly and separately either a metallic fabric, a fabric suspended by its ends only, a bent-wood frame, or a frame havin grounded ends and parallel sides; but, since I believe I am the first to combine in a cot all these desirable features, whereby greater simplicity, strength, compactness, and economy of material are attained with a reduction in the number of parts,

I claim as of my invention- 1. A bed-bottom frame formed with arched ends and straight parallel sides, in combination with a flat metallic fabric suspended from the ends only under tension, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination ofthe bent-wood frame B, the stittening-plate C, and supporting fabric A, substantially as set forth.

HERMON Wl. LADD.

Witnesses:

N. H. SPENCER, E. A. PHELPs. 

